Our Core Values

These values describe who we are as Milestone Church. They communicate who God has called us to be and direct where we're going. As a church family, our goal is to live where Jesus' Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and His Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) meet.

BIBLE

We value the Bible as God's revealed truth and the catalyst for life transformation and change.

The Word of God is one of the greatest gifts He has given us. It's so many things – divinely inspired, relevant, applicable, perfect, supernatural, simple, complex, comforting and challenging. It literally is the last word – nothing will be added to it and it has the final say in questions of how we live our lives, lead our families, and function as a church.

The Bible is not a self-help book, it's not a collection of ancient sayings that may or may not apply in today's world, and it's not a mysterious book of answers to life's most confusing questions. More than anything else, the Bible shows us who God is.

As we come to know God and walk deeper in relationship with Him through reading His Word, He begins to change us. In the process, God gives us His character. What comes natural to Him that's so hard for us (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, compassion, mercy, justice, etc.) begins to show up in our lives.

Like any relationship this takes work – it takes commitment. We've got to be willing to wrestle, to work through difficult issues, to ask ourselves hard questions and to hear things that may be difficult for us. But when we do, we'll never be the same.

MISSION

We value the mission of God to reach and redeem individuals, families, neighborhoods, and beyond.

From the Garden to the Red Sea, from the wilderness to the promised land, from Nazareth to Calvary, and throughout all of history, God has been at work to love, save and restore people. And now that story continues in each of our lives.

As a loving Father, God initiates this process – He loves us, calls us, and pursues us long before we look for Him. His greatest desire is for all of us to turn from lives lived for ourselves to receive the life God's created us to live. When we do, He invites all of us to join Him in His mission in our own unique way. Though our contributions are different, God values them all as we give and contribute to what He's doing in the lives of people.

Jesus told His disciples that the mission would start in their city (Jerusalem) then spread to the surrounding regions (Judea, Samaria) and then to the ends of the earth. At Milestone, we want to follow that pattern. God's mission starts in our hearts, works through our families, impacts our neighborhoods, affects our entire city and then keeps spreading to the ends of the earth.

COMMUNITY

We value developing genuine community through authentic relationships that come from loving God, sacrificially giving, and serving each other.

Genuine community doesn't just happen – you have to work at it. Jesus said that the world would know we love Him by the way that we love each other. Yet, so many people feel alone, they feel unloved, they feel insignificant, and what they really want is to feel like they belong. This is where we come in.

We believe the church should be a safe place where people can be honest, where they can share their challenges, where they can wrestle with truth and where they can look for help in a time of need. People matter to God and He wants all of us to experience His love through genuine community and authentic relationships.

This doesn't happen through coming together for a few hours a week – it's what happens when people do life together.

Love requires sacrifice, it costs time, energy and resources, and it means getting out of your comfort zone. Love means putting the needs of others ahead of your own. Love means giving without expecting anything in return. And when we begin to experience this kind of love in community, we can't get enough.

DEVELOPMENT

We value a lifestyle of worship that leads to the ongoing process of development in the life of every believer.

We're all works in progress. We're not who we once were, and we're not yet who we will become. We should be able to see this ongoing process of development in the life of every believer as we grow closer to God.

Religion leaves you empty. You may learn some rules and some new words and phrases. You may learn how to act during a service, what you should say and what you shouldn't say but in the end, nothing on the inside changes.

But when we fully engage with God, when we give our whole hearts and every area of our lives, we don't just "worship" during a service, we live a lifestyle of worship. Whatever we do, we do it to honor God and to show Him that we love Him. When we live this way, we'll never stop growing.